Human rights

Following are UN Secretary-General’s Ban Ki-moon’s closing remarks to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, in New York today:

After 15 years, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues had matured into a unique platform for the exchange of knowledge, but must now find ways to ensure the implementation of its recommendations or risk losing its hard-won credibility, speakers said today while suggesting changes to consider in developing future work programmes.

The three main bodies charged with promoting indigenous peoples’ rights worldwide must better identify the strengths and limits of their respective mandates in order to work together more effectively, speakers in the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues said today, drawing attention to unresolved cases of human rights abuses, some of which had endured generations.

A new status should be created for indigenous peoples to participate more fully in the work of United Nations bodies, speakers in the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues said today, advocating a process that would allow them to choose their representatives in line with their unique legal and cultural norms.

Development projects that could have wide-ranging impacts on the traditional lands and territories of indigenous peoples needed to be subject to free, prior and informed consent, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues heard today.

High suicide rates among indigenous youth related directly to the severe — and often invisible — discriminatory pressures they confronted in reconciling past colonial injustices with their search for a better future, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues heard today amid strong calls for education, health care and job opportunities that honoured their traditional heritage.

The collective rights of indigenous communities must be preserved and respected the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues heard today, as speakers took stock of progress made in the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s video message to the opening ceremony of the fifteenth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, in New York today:

Amid rapid globalization and the scramble for natural resources, indigenous peoples had become victims of violence and even genocide on their lands, often due to their distinct identities, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues heard today, as it opened its fifteenth session amid calls for their full participation in plans for peace and reconciliation that directly impacted their lives.

More than 1,000 indigenous participants from all regions of the world are expected to attend the fifteenth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 9 to 20 May.